Coalition Letter to Dept. of Education: Reject IHRA Definition That Is Causing Severe Anti-Palestinian Racism

On January 16, Palestine Legal, along with 13 other civil rights and legal advocacy organizations, submitted a letter urging the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to reject codifying the distorted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism into agency rules, policies, or decisions. 

Since October 7, repression and harassment against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims in the U.S have increased exponentially–resembling the aftermath of 9/11. Palestinian and allied students have been censored, doxxed, and punished for their expression in support of Palestinian rights. The letter notes that schools and universities have failed to address and, in some instances, have actively contributed to this hostile and chilling environment for Palestinians and their allies, often justifying their actions by relying on the same conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish animus that is at the heart of the IHRA definition.  

The letter includes an index of case examples that demonstrates how the IHRA definition has been weaponized to infringe upon bedrock First Amendment rights and perpetuate repression steeped in anti-Palestinian racism. 

The politicized efforts by anti-Palestinian groups to codify the IHRA definition mirror right-wing efforts to ban Critical Race Theory (CRT) initiatives. Driven by many of the same groups, both efforts undermine the ability of educational institutions to address systemic forms of oppression, and justify censorship and restrictions on speech and academic freedom. In this current political climate of resurgent anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic bigotry, the letter underscores the critical importance of understanding and addressing the overlapping threats that racism poses to all minorities and communities of color. 

“OCR must reject right-wing lobbying efforts that seek to address one form of racism while perpetuating another. The codification of the distorted IHRA definition will only serve as a tool of repression that will intensify the anti-Palestinian racism that activists and students are currently experiencing across the country,” said Palestine Legal’s Advocacy Manager, Lina Assi. 

This letter builds upon previous advocacy efforts urging OCR to reject the distorted IHRA definition. On October 31, 2023, Palestine Legal, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) sent a letter urging OCR to take special measures to provide guidance to universities and schools to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights of people calling for Palestinian freedom. One of the central demands urged OCR to reject the codification of IHRA and to affirm its mandate to protect the rights of all vulnerable student groups. In August 2022, Palestine Legal, along with 16 civil rights organizations, laid out the dangers of IHRA in a letter to OCR. 

In January 2022, OCR delayed the release of its proposed rule on Trump’s Executive Order 13899, on Combating Antisemitism, until December 2023. Instead of publishing the rule, OCR released a fact sheet describing protections that cover students who are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, or of any another religious group. The fact sheet affirmed OCR’s mandate to ensure protections for all marginalized and vulnerable student groups. The proposed rule has been delayed again until December 2024. 

“We urge OCR to uphold its mandate to protect all students from discrimination and harassment, and not cave to the pressure to violate the constitutional rights of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied students who are demanding an end to Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza,” says Assi.  

Read the full letter here.

For more information and resources on the distorted IHRA definition, click here.